Heavy metals in meat products from Shandong, China and risk assessment

ABSTRACT

In this study 13 heavy metals were analysed in representative livestock meat, poultry meat, livestock offal and poultry offal samples (20 per category) from marketplaces and retail stores in 16 cities in Shandong province, China. The investigated heavy metals were Cu, Cr, V, Ni, As, Se, Sn, Cd, Pb, Sb, Mn, Ba and Hg. Results revealed mean levels of total heavy metals in meat and offal of 1.56 mg/kg and 39.8 mg/kg, respectively. Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, Se, Ba and Pb were found in all samples (100%), followed by Hg (95.0%), V (91.3%), Sn (73.8%), Cd (51.3%), As (21.3%) and Sb (11.3%). Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Hazard Index (HI) values showed that high meat intake can cause potential health risks. Thus, continuous monitoring of health risks and trends of heavy metals in meat products is needed, both for food safety and consumer’s health.

KEYWORDS:

• Heavy metals
• contamination
• dietary exposure
• health risk assessment
• meat product
• ICP-MS

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Laboratory of Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shandong Academy of Preventive Medicine, Shandong Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within supplementary materials.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the science and technology development program of the Health Commission of Shandong Province [Grant numbers: 202112061045, 2019WS434].